31.
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the balance of trade with the EU over the last five years; and what were the equivalent figures for trade with those countries in the five years prior to the United Kingdom's EU accession. [36098]
In the latest five years the United Kingdom trade deficit in goods with the EU was worth £26.8 billion compared with a deficit of £1.9 billion in the five years preceding UK accession in 1973. The UK deficit, as a proportion of total UK trade with the EU countries, has fallen from 5.75 per cent. prior to accession to 3.5 per cent. in the latest five years.
37.
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on trends in the visible balance of trade between the first quarter of 1995 and the first quarter of 1996. [36104]
After a deterioration in the second quarter of 1995, the trend in the balance of trade in goods has been broadly flat.